1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to devices for holding and displaying those articles of jewelry, decorations, nametags, medals and the like which have a front decorative or informative portion and at least one pin-like shaft such as those found on pierced earrings, and a clamping device for engaging the pin-like shaft and thereby holding the decorative item in position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A number of devices have been designed to display jewelry items having pin-like shafts such as those used to mount pierced earrings and the like. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,224 teaches a framed display surface comprising at least two layers of sheet plastic material overlaying a base and at least two layers of filler material interposed between the two layers of sheet plastic material. The layers of sheet plastic material have a plurality of holes which require that each hole in the inner layer of the sheet material be located in direct axial alignment with a corresponding hole in the outer layer of the sheet plastic material. However, these rows and columns of holes have a certain unaesthetic quality to many users. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,084 teaches a book-like frame having a single rigid sheet of plastic or like material mounted in each side of the book-like frame. Here again the rigid display sheet has regular rows and columns of apertures for receiving the pin-like shafts of the jewelry items.
Such devices are adequate for storing or displaying jewelry items having a single pin-like shaft. They would also be adequate for storing articles such as nameplates having two or more pin-like shafts if, and only if, the spacing of the pin-like shafts on the back of the nameplate coincides with the spacing of the apertures in the rigid display sheets. Unfortunately, there are few established norms or conventions with respect to distances between the multiple pin-like shafts found on nameplates, medals, decorations and the like. Consequently, such items are not normally stored or displayed on such frames, but rather are stored in receptacles of one sort or another. Moreover, even if the distances between multiple pin-like shafts on such items were standardized, and even if the apertures in these prior art display sheets were standardized to the same dimensions, there still would remain a relatively limited number of positions in which nameplates and jewelry items could be displayed. This limitation follows from the fact that the prior art display surfaces are provided with a series of more or less regular rows and columns of equally spaced apertures. Hence the ability to change the display relationships of items for purposes of surfacespace utilization and/or for reasons of artistic inclinations of the user are limited by the matrix in which the pin-receiving apertures are manufactured.